Why be desirable when you could turn into desire bent over backwards on itself? (2024)

In this project, my exploration delves into the realms of my own identity and femininity. It’s a personal endeavor where I’ve crafted an iconology, constructing a universe that revolves around my own body and the intricate interplay with symbols such as my sexuality, womanhood, and varied representations of womanhood.

Within this exploration, I examine the fetishization of the female body, delving into elements like hair, which has often been heavily fetishized. I also consider the sexual weight carried by my cultural identity, reflecting on the societal notions of beauty ingrained in me growing up and the subsequent subversion of these standards. I reflect on how certain objects or ideas become sexualized merely by passing through the female body, despite their inherent non-sexual nature. Additionally, there’s a journey around my literal digital coming of age and the dichotomy between girlhood and womanhood.

Throughout this narrative, the bed and the bedroom emerge as recurring motifs, especially in a diptych drawing that draws symbolism from art history. Here, I connect with themes of Venus, love, beauty, and fertility. I juxtapose this with the contemporary equivalent of Venus’s son, Cupid, represented by a Sonny Angel a toy designed in 2004 to provide companionship for working women in their 20s. I explore the digital mirroring of myself and the simultaneous immersion in and breaking away from this digital realm.

In the essence of discovery, I uncover who I am constructing myself to be. The curtain invites the visitor to literally be peeled back and uncover what lies behind, inviting a deeper exploration into the layers of my identity and the symbolism woven into this personal universe.